Hi, I am new here and after much soul searching have mustered up the courage to post...there are ALOT of stand offish forums out there on breeding.
My girl is two and this is hers and my first litter. My vet has had his ear chewed off again this morning.
She is a small breed. She is expecting 8 l'il beauties....although I have read the book of the bitch, I stupidly read the internet too and have had lots of conflicting articles that have done little more than to confuse me. My mentor was good at the beginning (she is the studs owner) but keeps saying dont worry dont worry, same as the vet...I am not thats the thing, just terrified I am going to miss the signs! Can I bend your ear? All I need to know is that she is acting normal (pretty hard in our house :D)
Over the weekend she lost her plug but it wasnt stringy as some people suggest, she isnt urinating frequently. She has been behind the couch for most of the weekend but no digging or nesting. No milk in. And pants intermittently usually when the kids have gone to bed. She is sleeping loads. No pain and eating minimal amounts. Clear discharge and plenty of fetal movement going on in there! Is it soon or can I relax for a few days yet...her last two temp readings are 37.8 and 37.1...thank you in advance of soothing my nerves. Is it safe to nip out with my daughter in the morning to get her GCSe results?

[Admin edited to remove breed and colour]

Hi and welcome. I don't want to sound "stand offish" to use your words but people here are very hot on responsible breeding as we all want healthy, long lived dogs -I think that's what everyone wants if you just think about it carefully. Unfortunately your breed is one that should never be bred form before the age of 2 ½ at least, with a lot of health tests needed and knowledge of all four grandparents of the pups -i.e. their health tests, their age etc-, so you may well get to hear some negative opinions. I thought I best get that in straight away. I have had dogs of the same breed as yours myself (only as pets though, I breed and show two very different breeds) for the past 15 years.

Anyway, 8 is a very large breed for your litter indeed although it does happen, so it would not at all be strange if your girl was early giving birth. Day 58 is perfectly normal and possible for bitches to give birth on and personally I always count day 58 as the first day puppies could arrive, and by then would not leave the house for even 5 minutes. I know several posters here have success in taking temperature and working out when pups would be born but for me it's never worked -I've never seen the temp drop before puppies appeared. So be very vigilant from now on, and good luck.

Hi
Welcome to the forum , first I must point out that you are not allowed to state what breed you have , so please can you edit your post otherwise it may be removed by moderators.
Everything sounds normal to me , I wouldn't say she's going to have them today , but then you never can tell . From the last week I never leave my girls at all , as you just can't be sure. Like most of us on here I sleep downstairs for a week before and 3 weeks after the puppies are born. Just incase of any accidents etc , etc.
Good luck with your litter.

I have your breed too though am not very experienced. It does sound like she's getting close, this breed very rarely goes right to term so 58 days is more than likely. I would suggest finding owners who do not plan to breed themselves, as your bitch is a little too young as someone else said, she should have been 2.5 years and then been heart checked, eye tested and scanned for SM. You could do these tests once she is 2.5 years old so you have at least in retrospect done the right checks, and then if she doesn't pass all the checks you will at least know not to breed from her again and just love her as a pet. Hopefully all will be well though - keep us posted!

Re temperature, I thought I had better take my bitch's on Friday morning last week and it was 36 point something, so I knew she was getting close. She went into second stage labour early Saturday morning and whelped 7 pups between 8 and 10am.

The panting could just be the very humid weather we've been having lately. Of course it could be she is "starting" but my girl panted heavily (and sometimes very fast) for the whole night before she whelped. It's not the normal kind of panting, they almost chug like a train...lol! They also stare into space a bit if other bitches are anything like my girl, and will also dig their bed up or start digging up outside. I threw a whole load of paper, towels, and old blankets into the whelping box to help her satisfy the urge, and she dug up there.

Have you got a nice quiet place ready for her to whelp? When she's ready, she won't want to let you out of her sight not for a minute, especially if it's her first litter.

Even though I knew she had been in the first stages of labour for a good few hours, I was almost shocked when I saw the first contraction, and excited!

Good luck with your girl, I would think she'll be ok for now, but don't leave her too long on her own, she may surprise you!!

any news of the arrival yet?